This also gives me some good time to get onto the next gen. Very good.

This makes me a little sad. But for quality reasons I can accept it.

I guess I should forget about this game for a while.

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http://destiny.bungie.org/forum/index.php?id=18110

1. If Destiny has a stellar launch and CoD: Ghosts continues to underperform (current figures are not looking good), could we see a switch such that Destiny gets the coveted Fall release slot and CoD shifts to Spring?

Is it happening?

I think we all know what shirt you need to buy, and it isn't in the Bungie store. Yet.

It's one of those things where I'm a little sad because it's not spring... But really. I can't let that get me down. I mean we have a freaking release date! I can mark it on my calendar and go into hibernation now! (Or at least until Titanfall comes out)

- Summer game drought (I don't want Titanfall)
- Game AND Beta delayed

+ Game will be better at launch
+ More of my friends will have a PS4 by then
+ Far away from all other major releases to maximize sales

Looks like Destiny will be that end of Summer oasis now.

More time to play other games before I have to give them all up.

Also, more time to delay next gen.

Surprised that they have it launching then. It will be interesting to see when Activision decides to launch the new COD. I am kinda bummed it got pushed back but at least that gives me ample time with Titanfall.

But most importantly, I'm proud of Bungie for landing a release date. Seems like a long time to polish this game as much as possible!

"His High Exaltedness, the great Acti Vision, has decreed that you are to pre-order Destiny immediately."

Good, I hate long waits.

"You will therefore be taken to the Dune Seattle and cast into the pit of Coming-Soon™, the nesting place of the all-powerful SchedSlipp."

Doesn't sound so bad.

"In his belly, you will find a new definition of 'Spring' and 'Early 2014', as you slowly become invested over a thousand years."

On second thought...

But that's... so far away :'(

I was looking forward to some beta goodness sometime within the next three months, with Destiny to suck up pretty much my entire summer. Well, at least the beta is in the summer, and I will have plenty of games from the first six months of the year, including Driveclub, Infamous, DKC: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, and Watch Dogs, plus various older titles I still need to catch up on.

The timing of the announcement is too close to the VGAs for it to be a coincidence, but I'm still trying to figure out why they would announce it on their own a day before, instead of revealing it at the VGAs during their presentation.

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The 9.9.2014 date, while aesthetically pleasing, should not be treated as a firm deadline. "9.9.2014" should be more reasonably interpreted as "Fall-ish 2014" since Bungie still reserves the right to move the release date around as necessary. So you might ask "why even bother to give a specific date then?" It's a PR game. Consider this situation:

Bungie knows Destiny is not where it needs to be for a Q2 2014 release (or, more accurately, a Jan-Feb beta... more on that in a bit). The VGAs is a big platform for them to show off Destiny and prepare people for it. Part of preparing people for it is telling them when they can expect to buy it. If they stick with a "Q2 2014" date they know they can't deliver on, that's bad for reasons that should be obvious. If they close with "Fall 2014" instead, the only thing people take away from it is "oh, boy, it got delayed." There's very little upside to that kind of news. However, if instead of "Fall 2014" you say "Sept 9 2014," you've ameliorated things: people aren't upset because it's been delayed, people are happy there's a (as far as they know) solid date. Bungie can still change the release date if it needs to; doing so would present its own problems, but it's a risk they're willing to take.

Related: does anyone know when Bungie announced solid release dates for Halo 2, Halo 3, and Reach?

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With the beta so close (originally slated for sometime around Jan-Feb 2014), you have to imagine Bungie has been pouring a lot of resources into getting it "beta-ready" as of late. With this in mind, it's possible and even likely that the impetus for the delay had as much to do with the beta not being ready as the full game.

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Let's be honest: Bungie hasn't shown us much of Destiny, and what they have shown (hyperbolic praises from employees aside) hasn't really been impressive. You could totally be forgiven for thinking the Old Russia demo was a re-skinned Borderlands expansion. Compare this to something like Titanfall, whose debut gameplay trailer showed immediately why it's different and why you should be hype (jetpacks! wall running! pilotable mechs!) with no necessary indulgence in apologetics, speculation or having to take people at their word.

Considering this, a delay is definitely a good thing.

If Bungie were still on track for a Q2 release, the two most plausible reasons for the scarcity of gameplay footage/info at this point would be (1) what we've seen is what we're getting, a depressing proposition, or (2) the theory with the most buy-in from members of this board: if they showed stuff, we just wouldn't get it. Neither is particularly inspiring.

A delay like this is an admission on Bungie's part that, yes, the game isn't where it needs to be. They're not showing us stuff because they don't have stuff to show (at least stuff that's ready for public consumption anyway). I think that's a good thing.

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I alluded to it earlier in this thread, but I think we might be seeing Destiny taking COD's coveted Fall release slot. If you assume that Activision has an interest in Destiny and COD not stepping on each other's toes, a Spring/Fall setup makes sense. Fall is obviously the prime spot, and would likely go to the game that is predicted to sell better. This would relegate the other title to Spring.

I wouldn't be surprised if we're seeing a switch here brought on by COD: Ghosts' poor sales, poor reviews, and poor outlook.

Another explanation is that COD will remain ACTV's Fall blockbuster, at least for 2014. Destiny's early September release date (not the usual time frame for a big holiday release) might just be a compromise between giving the game the time it needs and not stepping on COD's toes.

I'm happy with that date. Now I can hopefully plow through this backlog of games I have and then I can buy a ps4 and Destiny come September 9th without feeling too guilty :)

Slightly bummed that we aren't getting a Spring 2014 release, but I am glad we're still getting a September release. Most of my Halo purchases happened in September and it's not too close to the holidays, but just close enough. I didn't get Halo 1 or Halo 2 at launch, but I hated the November launch for Halo 4 because it felt too close to the holidays to me.

Besides, as several people already pointed out, it would give me almost a year to save up a little bit from each paycheck and get a PS4. :)